Low weight terry fabric and a method of producing the same

ABSTRACT

A towel is provided comprising a ground cloth having warp yarns and weft yarns in a flat weave and having first and second sides. Stripes are provided on the first and second sides of the ground cloth that are defined by alternating areas of pile loops and flat weave, the pile loops on the first side being opposed by flat weave on the second side and the flat weave on the first side being opposed by pile loops on the second side. The pile loops have a density of 60 loops per cm 2 . A method for manufacturing a terry towel is also provided in which the towel has a weight of less than 240 gsm using a combination of open structured 100% cotton pile yarn of finer counts with ground and weft yarns that have a proportion of synthetic fiber of from 10% to 100%; comprising: weaving a striped pattern of 100% of pile yarn on one side alternated with 100% of pile yarn on other side to create double density loop stripes, the stripes having width in the range of 2 mm to 25 mm.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to terry fabric having open structuredpile yarn of finer counts with a cotton/synthetic blend in ground warpand weft yarns. Particularly, the present invention relates to terrytowel preferably having 100% cotton yarn in the pile, with cottonpreferably blended to 100% synthetic ground warp and weft yarns.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Terry fabrics belong to a group of pile fabrics in which an additionalyarn is introduced or inserted in such a manner that forms loops, called“piles,” to give a distinct appearance. These fabrics can be producedeither by weaving or by knitting.

Most conventional terry towels are woven from all cotton or acombination of cotton and polycotton yarns, primarily because cotton isinexpensive and has the property of high absorbency. Using cotton forthe manufacture of terry towels has been found to be advantageous inmany respects, such as good moisture absorption durability, and easyavailability. However, it also presents several drawbacks, one beingslow release of absorbed moisture, resulting in the drying time forcotton towels being relatively longer. When thicker and heavier yarnsare used to make towels, the time required for drying increases. Slowdrying is disadvantageous because it results in increase in time betweenthe instances when the towels can be used, and promotes the souring oftowels and mildew formation. It also results in increased energyconsumption to dry the towels. Further, in the case of conventionallyheavier towels, there is a limitation on the number of towels that canbe loaded in a washing machine.

Cotton, before being spun into a yarn, can absorb about 25 times itsweight and is exceptionally soft. The conventional terry towelingprocess reduces the absorbency and the inherent soft nature of cotton.Most conventional terry towels woven from cotton or blended fibres canabsorb only about 3-5 times its weight. They are made in the weightranges of 300 gsm to 450 gsm to get high absorbency.

The pile loops in the conventional towels, which constitute around 60%of the weight of the towel, absorb water and dry due to capillaryaction. Each of the pile loops acts as a capillary to draw the waterfrom the surface of the skin. Moreover, in conventional towels, the yarndiameter of each pile loop is 0.3958 mm, resulting in less absorbency,lower bulkiness and low wet compressibility.

Conventionally, terry towels with weight below 300 gsm are not produced,since low weight does not result in sufficient absorbency and furtherdoes not provide sufficient strength or durability. Terry towels areusually woven with 10.5 to 12 ends per cm of yarn in the pile warp and10.5 to 12 ends per cm yarn in the ground warp interwoven with 13 to 20picks per cm of weft yarn. When yarns of counts finer than 16 s Ne areused for all the warps and weft to reduce the weight, the fabric doesnot have sufficient strength to withstand vigorous laundering especiallyin institutional use.

Thus, there exists a need to produce lightweight terry towel having highbulkiness and high wet compressibility, yet maintaining same absorbencyand tensile strength characteristics as that of a conventional terrytowel. Various other features of the method and apparatus of the presentinvention will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon readingthe disclosure set forth hereinafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one or more of the problems of the conventional prior art may beovercome by various embodiments of the present invention.

A primary aspect of the present invention is to provide a terry fabrichaving open structured pile yarn of finer counts with a cotton/syntheticblended yarn in ground warp and weft.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a terry towelhaving 100% cotton yarn in the pile with cotton blended to 100%synthetic ground warp and weft yarns.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the weft yarn hashigh tensile strength, with a tensile strength greater than 700 gf/tex.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the pile warpyarns has counts finer than 16 s Ne and a pile ratio of from 1:3 to 1:4.

It is another aspect of the present invention wherein the pile warpyarns have a span length of 2.5% or longer than 3.5 times the looplength of one pile loop.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a terry towelin which each loop of the pile yarn is open structured using low twistor no twist, and more preferably the pile yarn having a twist multiplierless than 2.4, so as to provide a greater exposed surface and therebyresulting in quick drying of the terry towel.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a terry towelin which yarn diameter of each pile loop is about 0.8 mm, thereby makingthe towel bulkier.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a terry towelin which the loop diameter of each pile loop is 1.6 mm, thereby makingthe towel highly absorbent and bulkier.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a terry towelthat has an absorbency of from 8-10 times its weight.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a terry towelin which the stripes of high tensile yarns in the warp have a strengthhigher than 700 gf/tex, woven along stripes in which the yarns have atensile strength of from 450 gf/tex to 500 gf/tex. Preferably, thestripes are woven in widths of from 2 mm to 25 mm.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a process formanufacturing the terry towel, wherein the weight of terry towelproduced is less than 240 gsm. The process uses a combination of openstructured 100% cotton pile yarn of finer counts with the ground andweft yarn having a proportion of synthetic fiber greater than 10% and upto 100%, thereby producing a low weight, highly absorbent terry towel.The process involves weaving a stripped pattern of 100% of pile yarn onone side alternated with 100% of pile yarn on other side to create adouble density loop stripes, which causes the loops to stand exact andnot fall down due to lack of additional space around the loop. Thesestripes are woven in width in the range of 2 mm to 25 mm.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a process formanufacturing the terry towel, wherein the terry fabric undergoesenzymatic pretreatment to make the loops bulkier during processing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the features, advantages and objects of theinvention, as well as others which will become apparent, may beunderstood in more detail, more particular description or the inventionbriefly summarized above may be had by reference to the embodimentthereof which is illustrated in the appended drawings, which form a partof this specification. It is to be noted, however, that the drawingsillustrate only one preferred embodiment of the invention, and istherefore not to be considered limiting of the invention's scope as itmay admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a terry towel according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a section of the terry towelof FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged end view of the towel of FIG. 2 showing thepattern of alternating pile loops on opposite sides of the towel.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are enlarged end views of a top and bottom stripe,respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain terms of art may be used. Theterms are given their ordinary meaning as known to one skilled in theart, as reflected in, e.g., Yilmaz, et al., “The Technology of TerryTowel Production,” Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology andManagement, Vol. 4, Issue 4, Summer 2005; “The Complete TextileGlossary,”© 2001 Celanese Acetate LLC; and “A Glossary of Selected Fiberand Textile Terms,” Bally Ribbon Mills, each of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

In addition, definitions are provided for the terms that follow.

“Tensile strength” is the usual breaking strength of yarn. Tensilestrength of typical cotton yarn is from about 450 gf/tex to about 500gf/tex.

“Pile ratio” is understood to be the ratio calculated between groundwarp and pile warp. Usually it is measured from 10 centimeter of a towelsize. Pile warp will be usually in excess length due to loop formationthan the ground warp.

The “loop length” of a pile loop is the height of the loop multiplied bytwo.

“Span length” is the distance spanned by 2.5% of fibers in the specimenbeing tested when the fibers are parallelized and randomly distributedand where the initial starting point of the scanning in the test isconsidered as 100%. This length is measured using digital fibrograph. Ina towel, span length is the measurement of the cotton fiber length.

“Yarn loop diameter” is the diameter of a strand of yarn measuredthrough an image analyzer (microscopic view), from which the thicknessis measured.

A woven towel may consist of five parts: the pile area, fringes, thebeginning and end parts, the selvedge, and the border. The presentdescription relates to the pile area. In a typical terry towel, the pilearea comprises four groups of yarn: the pile warp, the ground warp, theweft (filling), and the border weft. More specifically, a towelcomprises a ground cloth formed of warps and wefts, with loop piles onone or both sides.

With reference to FIG. 1, perspective view of a towel 10 according tothe present disclosure is seen, the towel 10 having a plurality ofstripes formed by pile loops. By reference to FIG. 2, it is seen thatthe towel has a series of alternating stripes 12 and flat weave 14 on afirst side of the towel and another series of stripes 16 and flat weave18 on the second side of the towel, the stripes 12 on the first sidebeing backed by flat weave 18 on the second side and the stripes 16 onthe second side being backed by flat weave 14 on the first side.

With reference to FIG. 3-5, cross sections through the warp of a towel10 are seen. The towel 10 comprises a ground cloth made from a pluralityof wefts 20, a first ground warp 22, and a second ground warp 24.Interwoven in the ground cloth is a pile warp 26 that alternates betweenforming loops on the front and back sides of the ground cloth to formthe alternating stripes of pile loops and flat weave on the front andback sides. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the pile loops are woven ina three-pick repeating pattern, with two wefts 20 between each pileloop. However, repeating patterns with other pick counts are alsocontemplated.

Preferably, the stripes are woven in widths of from 2 mm to 25 mm. Asshown, the pile loops are double density upright loops, but mayalternatively comprise spiral loops without departing from the scope ofthe invention. Preferably, the pile loops have a density ofapproximately 60 loops per cm². The pile warp yarn has counts finer than16 s Ne and a pile ratio of from 1:3 to 1:4, and, preferably, a spanlength of 2.5% or longer than 3.5 times the loop length of one pileloop.

The towel 10 preferably comprises an open structured pile yarn of finercounts, with a cotton/synthetic blended yarn in ground warp and weft.Preferably, the towel comprises 100% cotton open structured yarn in thepile, with cotton/synthetic blended yarn for the ground warp and weftyarns, the blend comprising up to 100% synthetic. More preferably, thewarp and weft yarns comprise from 10% to less than 100% syntheticfibers.

The weft yarn has high tensile strength, with a tensile strength greaterthan 700 gf/tex. Preferably, the warp yarns comprise a combination offibers having a tensile strength of from 450 gf/tex to 500 gf/tex.

Preferably, each loop of the pile yarn is open structured, using lowtwist or no twist yarn, so as to provide a greater exposed surface andthereby resulting in quick drying of the terry towel. More preferablythe pile yarn has a twist multiplier less than 2.4. The yarn diameter ofeach pile loop is preferably about 0.8 mm, thereby making the towelbulkier. Additionally, the loop diameter of each pile loop isapproximately 1.6 mm, thereby making the towel both highly absorbent andbulkier. As a result, the towel 10 has an absorbency of from 8-10 timesits weight.

In another aspect a process is provided for manufacturing a terry towel,wherein the weight of towel produced is less than 240 gsm. The processuses a combination of open structured 100% cotton pile yarn of finercounts with the ground and weft yarn having a proportion of syntheticfiber greater than 10% up to 100%, thereby producing a low weight highlyabsorbent terry towel. The process involves weaving a stripped patternof 100% of pile yarn on one side alternated with 100% of pile yarn onother side to create a double density loop stripes, which causes theloops to stand exact and not fall down due to lack of additional spacearound the loop. These stripes are woven in width in the range of 2 mmto 25 mm. In another aspect, the process includes subjecting the yarnsto enzymatic pretreatment to make the loops bulkier during processing.

Thus an improved, low weight towel has been provided in accordance withthe foregoing description. While the towel and its method of manufacturehave been described in terms of a specific embodiment, there is nointent to limit the invention to the same. Instead, the invention isdefined by the scope of the following claims.

1. A towel comprising: a) a ground cloth comprising warp yarns and weftyarns in a flat weave and having first and second sides; and b) stripeson the first and second sides of the ground cloth defined by alternatingareas of pile loops and flat weave, the pile loops on the first sidebeing opposed by flat weave on the second side and the flat weave on thefirst side being opposed by pile loops on the second side, the pileloops having a density of approximately 60 loops per cm².
 2. The towelof claim 1 wherein the stripes have a width of from 2 mm to 25 mm. 3.The towel of claim 1 wherein the pile loops are formed from openstructured 100% cotton yarn.
 4. The towel of claim 3 wherein the yarnhas a twist multiplier of less than 2.4.
 5. The towel of claim 1 whereinthe weft yarns comprise fibers having a tensile strength of greater than700 gf/tex and the warp yarns comprise a combination of fibers having atensile strength of greater than 700 gf/tex and fibers having a tensilestrength of from 450 gf/tex to 500 gf/tex.
 6. The towel of claim 1wherein the warp yarns and weft yarns are 100% synthetic.
 7. The towelof claim 1 wherein the warp yarns and the weft yarns are acotton-synthetic blend.
 8. The towel of claim 7 wherein the warp yarnsand the weft yarns comprise from 10% to less than 100% synthetic fibers.9. The towel of claim 1 wherein the towel has a weight of less than 240g/m² and an absorbency of from 8 to 10 times its weight.
 10. The towelof claim 1 wherein the pile loops are formed from pile warp yarns havinga count of finer than 16 s Ne, and a pile ratio of from 1:3 to 1:4. 11.The towel of claim 10 wherein the pile warp yarns comprise cotton fibershaving a span length of 2.5% or longer than 3.5 times longer than a looplength of a single pile.
 12. The towel of claim 10 wherein the pileloops have a yarn loop diameter of about 0.8 mm and a loop diameter ofabout 1.6 mm.
 13. The towel of claim 10 wherein the pile loops have ayarn loop diameter of from between about 0.5 mm to about 1.6 mm.
 14. Amethod for manufacturing a terry towel having a weight of less than 240gsm using a combination of open structured 100% cotton pile yarn offiner counts with ground and weft yarns that have a proportion ofsynthetic fiber of from 10% to 100%, the method comprising: weaving astriped pattern of 100% of pile yarn on one side alternated with 100% ofpile yarn on other side to create double density loop stripes, thestripes having width in the range of 2 mm to 25 mm.
 15. The method ofclaim 14 wherein the terry towel undergoes enzymatic pretreatment.